Monarch: Legacy of Monsters premiered in 2023 to expand Legendary’s MonsterVerse franchise by further exploring the time between 2014’s Godzilla and its sequel, Godzilla: King of the Monsters. It quickly became one of the best shows on Apple TV, and now Monarch Season 2 is set to hit the 2026 TV schedule. Critics have seen the 10-episode drop, so what are they saying about Season 2’s new threat, Titan X? Does the new chapter fill in some Season 1 gaps?
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2 picks up immediately after the Season 1 ending, with some new faces like Amber Midthunder joining the cast. Let’s get to the reviews, as David Caballero of Collider rates Season 2 a 7 out of 10, saying that while it’s far more uneven than the first season, it delivers the spectacle. Titan X is possibly the franchise’s best creation yet, and Keiko’s story remains the most fascinating. Caballero writes:
Overall, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2 is another solid building block in the MonsterVerse. It knocks it out of the park where it matters most, offering exhilarating monster mayhem and a new Titan that's more than worth the price of admission — or the Apple TV subscription. Sure, the Randa siblings are a considerable nuisance, but the strength of Keiko, as well as both versions of Shaw, Hiroshi, and Bill, make up for the cracks in this ensemble. … Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2 mostly satisfies with a story that puts the Titans front and center — exactly where fans want to see them.
Tara Bennett of IGN gives it a “Great” 8 out of 10, saying the second season moves at a quick pace, with plenty of Titan set pieces and some major plot twists in both the past and present. The critic writes:
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2 retains bragging rights as the Monsterverse project giving audiences the best balance of kaiju thrills and compelling storytelling involving its human characters. And for the super fans, this season continues to fill in the Monsterverse mythology gaps in surprising ways.
Hunter Ingram of AV Club gives the upcoming Apple TV series’ new season a B-, saying it struggles to stake its claim in a colossal world, often bogging down the fun with too much technical jargon. However, Titan X’s emotional arc is the most effective aspect of the new episodes, and Ingram agrees that Keiko drives the human side of things, writing:
She is a great match for the Russells, whose strapping charisma goes a long way to reacquainting the audience with the inherent fun of this premise when things get a bit dour. Let’s not forget: This is still a story about massive creatures who talk with their fists, tails, and roars. Even if they aren’t seen as much as they are discussed, this was always meant to be a rock-’em-sock-’em good time. And Monarch still can be just that—when it actually lets itself glove up.
Steven Scaife of Slant, meanwhile, gives the Monarch’s second season just 1.5 out of 4 stars, noting that while Titan X is a “respectable monster design,” there’s not enough Godzilla or Kong in Season 2. In fact, these 10 episodes are even more mired in family feuds and love triangles than Season 1. The critic continues:
For all the time Monarch: Legacy of Monsters spends trying to develop its characters and occasionally explain its science, the story is no more fulfilling, let alone believable. Characters still slide in and out of the action as the plot demands, slipping between convenient new allegiances on a whim as they seemingly bump into the right person at the right moment. The storytelling here is no less rickety than that of the goofiest old monster movie, the difference being that the series insists on showing its work. The MonsterVerse films may lack a memorable human through line, but Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is a dire overcorrection.
Jeremy Mathai of SlashFilm agrees there was an overcorrection in trying to make the human stories more interesting, and in the end, Season 2 both lacks the bite of its namesake Titans and misses the “sheer pulpy thrills” of its big-screen brethren. Mathai rates it 5 out of 10 and says:
Unfortunately, something seems to have gotten lost in translation between what the writing team finds interesting and what's actually most interesting about this universe: the Titans themselves. Allthe manufactured interpersonal conflicts, abrupt character turns, and frustratingly hidden motivations in the world are no substitute for a narrative that never manages to fully come together in a satisfying way — or delivers on the monster mayhem audiences are tuning in for in the first place.
If you were a fan of Season 1 and you need to see where all of these stories lead — especially with the addition of Titan X - you can check out Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2 when it premieres Friday, February 27, with an Apple TV subscription. Episodes are released weekly.
